Rosalia Mera
| Rosalía Mera | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Rosalía Mera Goyenechea 28 January 1944 A Coruña, Galicia, Spain |
| Died | 15 August 2013 (aged 69) A Coruña, Galicia, Spain |
| Cause of death | Stroke |
| Residence | Liáns, Oleiros, A Coruña, Galicia Spain |
| Nationality | Spanish |
| Known for | Co-founder of Inditex |
| Net worth | $6.1 billion (2013) |
| Spouse(s) | Amancio Ortega Gaona (m. 1966; div. 1986) |
| Children | 2; including Sandra Ortega Mera |
| Website | Official website |
Rosalía Mera Goyenechea (28 January 1944 – 15 August 2013) was a Spanish businesswoman and entrepreneur. At the time of her death, she was the richest woman in Spain and the world's richest self-made woman. In 1975, she co-founded the Zara retail chain with her then-husband Amancio Ortega Gaona. The company grew to become the world's largest fashion retailer.
Rosalia Mera was born in A Coruña, Galicia, Spain in 1944. She dropped out of school at age eleven to work as a sales assistant in a clothing shop.
Mera began designing gowns and lingerie in her home with her then-husband, Amancio Ortega Gaona. The couple opened the first Zara store in 1975 in A Coruña. Eventually the couple parlayed their work into a multi-billion dollar enterprise. Zara's success was in part due to its strategy of imitating popular fashions and quickly making them for sale at inexpensive prices.
Ten years after the opening of the first Zara store, Inditex was established as a holding company for the couple's businesses. Inditex now comprises multiple fashion companies, of which Zara is the flagship. The company also owns the retailers Bershka, Massimo Dutti, Oysho, Pull & Bear, Stradivarius, Uterque and Zara Home. Inditex now has over 6000+ stores in over 86 countries and over 120,000 employees. Despite her 1986 divorce from Ortega, Mera retained a 7% stake in the company.
Mera also owned interests in a company which made fingerprinting identification kits for newborns and another company, Zeltia, which carries out research into cancer fighting compounds of both synthetic and natural origin and particularly those bioactive compounds originating in the ocean.
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Wikipedia